Politicians Make Bootlegging Great Again
17th January 2017
When Prohibition ended in 1933, my great-grandfather, Giuseppe Marano, thought his money-making glory days were over. Having made a good living selling alcoholic beverages to willing buyers at a time when that business was illegal across the country, he and his cohorts certainly viewed the passage of the 21st Amendment as the end of a very profitable era.
Except that it really wasn’t. Politicians may have formally dumped the national ban on booze, but in many places they’ve imposed enough foolish restrictions to keep bootlegging a going concern.
And, of course, it was Prohibition that gave us the Mafia’s glory days.
January 18th, 2017 at 10:13
The moonshiner gets empty bottles from the bar and re-fills them. People drinking mixed drinks are pretty much just tasting the mixers and some alcohol anyway, but now they’re paying for good liquor and getting white lightning instead. It’s a more common racket than most would think.
Same is true with all that “regulated” (taxed) weed in Colorado. There’s an official (taxed) price, and then there’s the price someone is willing to charge if you pay cash and don’t expect a receipt. In states where pot is still illegal, growers have adopted moonshiner’s age-old techniques for protection. A black thread across a trail tied to a tin can with pebbles in it will provide a good alarm if someone is approaching your “farm”.
I dated a girl many years ago whose father was an ex-Marine and ex-state trooper. He had a gallon of white lightning that an old buddy of his gave him. The buddy had become a deputy sheriff in WV. There was an old moonshiner that had an all-copper still with screw-together parts. Every December, the guy would call the sheriff’s department and let them know their “batch” was ready. They would dutifully raid his still, taking it apart and taking pictures to make the BATF happy, and then put it back together and take the confiscated booze back to the office to divvy up for their holiday celebrations.
Some things just work despite the federal government.
January 18th, 2017 at 20:45
Markets work, even when you don’t want them to. Is this a great country, or what?